Bits and Pieces

Posted on April 1, 2005    Posted by John Scalzi      4 Comments

No, I’m not doing anything clever for April Fool’s Day, although if you like you can hear me get frustrated when Athena doesn’t fall for my April Fool’s Day prank. Kids can be too clever sometimes. Grrr.

In other news, Tor’s ordered a fourth printing of Old Man’s War. As the kids say: w00t!

Also, Old Man’s War gets what I think is a really very good review by Russell Letson in Locus this month — good in the sense of very well-considered, not in the sense of “uniformly positive.” Indeed, the version of the review I’ve seen (graciously forwarded to me by the reviewer at my request, since I don’t yet subscribe to Locus) begins “Once in a great while I find myself reviewing a book that annoys me…” which was enough enough to make me laugh out loud (the second part of the sentence is a little better for me: “… or, to be precise, a book that I enjoy enough to finish even though I might spend a lot amount of time arguing with it.”

I enjoyed this review because the reviewer got into a dialogue with the book, and I think it’s interesting to have someone feel like he wants to keep reading even when from time to time he wants to hurl the book across the room; what I really like is the suggestion the book had him spending time thinking about the issues it raises. To be sure, it’s not an unqualified rave; it’s not even close (the reviewer has a headful of nits to pick), but perverse fellow that I am, I don’t mind mixed or even negative reviews if the review is thoughtfully done, and this one is. Naturally, I encourage you to seek it out.

Also noted in the April Locus: Elizabeth Bear’s Hammered at #3 on the paperback bestseller’s list. Rock on, Ms. Bear! No, Old Man’s War is not on the bestseller list. I’ll make it through the pain somehow.

On a completely unrelated front, I’ve decided that I’m going to go ahead and get myself a Mac. Because, you know, I want one, and since none of y’all picked up the hint to buy me one, I guess I’ll just have to get it myself. My thought was to buy one in time to start writing The Ghost Brigades, but the complication here is that Apple is very likely to announce upgrades to its OS and possibly new models within the next few days, and it makes no sense to buy the current models until the updates are announced. Stupid product cycles.

In case you’re curious, the Mac I have my eye on would be the 20″ iMac, which is in the sweet spot for me in terms of price and power (this is one of the models they’re likely to upgrade this month as well). As I mentioned previously, this doesn’t mean I’ll have “switched,” since I intend to keep my current PC up and running because the PC universe still has a number of advantages, and at some point (probably a year to 18 months from now), I’ll probably upgrade on the PC side as well. I’ll be proudly biprocessorial. I swing both ways!

That’s what’s going on my world.

Bits and Pieces

Posted on April 1, 2005    Posted by John Scalzi      1 Comment

No, I’m not doing anything clever for April Fool’s Day, although if you like you can hear me get frustrated when Athena doesn’t fall for my April Fool’s Day prank. Kids can be too clever sometimes. Grrr.

In other news, Tor’s ordered a fourth printing of Old Man’s War. As the kids say: w00t!

Also, Old Man’s War gets what I think is a really very good review by Russell Letson in Locus this month — good in the sense of very well-considered, not in the sense of “uniformly positive.” Indeed, the version of the review I’ve seen (graciously forwarded to me by the reviewer at my request, since I don’t yet subscribe to Locus) begins “Once in a great while I find myself reviewing a book that annoys me…” which was enough enough to make me laugh out loud (the second part of the sentence is a little better for me: “… or, to be precise, a book that I enjoy enough to finish even though I might spend a lot amount of time arguing with it.”

I enjoyed this review because the reviewer got into a dialogue with the book, and I think it’s interesting to have someone feel like he wants to keep reading even when from time to time he wants to hurl the book across the room; what I really like is the suggestion the book had him spending time thinking about the issues it raises. To be sure, it’s not an unqualified rave; it’s not even close (the reviewer has a headful of nits to pick), but perverse fellow that I am, I don’t mind mixed or even negative reviews if the review is thoughtfully done, and this one is. Naturally, I encourage you to seek it out.

Also noted in the April Locus: Elizabeth Bear’s Hammered at #3 on the paperback bestseller’s list. Rock on, Ms. Bear! No, Old Man’s War is not on the bestseller list. I’ll make it through the pain somehow.

On a completely unrelated front, I’ve decided that I’m going to go ahead and get myself a Mac. Because, you know, I want one, and since none of y’all picked up the hint to buy me one, I guess I’ll just have to get it myself. My thought was to buy one in time to start writing The Ghost Brigades, but the complication here is that Apple is very likely to announce upgrades to its OS and possibly new models within the next few days, and it makes no sense to buy the current models until the updates are announced. Stupid product cycles.

In case you’re curious, the Mac I have my eye on would be the 20″ iMac, which is in the sweet spot for me in terms of price and power (this is one of the models they’re likely to upgrade this month as well). As I mentioned previously, this doesn’t mean I’ll have “switched,” since I intend to keep my current PC up and running because the PC universe still has a number of advantages, and at some point (probably a year to 18 months from now), I’ll probably upgrade on the PC side as well. I’ll be proudly biprocessorial. I swing both ways!

That’s what’s going on my world.

Bits and Pieces

Posted on April 1, 2005    Posted by John Scalzi      9 Comments

No, I’m not doing anything clever for April Fool’s Day, although if you like you can hear me get frustrated when Athena doesn’t fall for my April Fool’s Day prank. Kids can be too clever sometimes. Grrr.

In other news, Tor’s ordered a fourth printing of Old Man’s War. As the kids say: w00t!

Also, Old Man’s War gets what I think is a really very good review by Russell Letson in Locus this month — good in the sense of very well-considered, not in the sense of “uniformly positive.” Indeed, the version of the review I’ve seen (graciously forwarded to me by the reviewer at my request, since I don’t yet subscribe to Locus) begins “Once in a great while I find myself reviewing a book that annoys me…” which was enough enough to make me laugh out loud (the second part of the sentence is a little better for me: “… or, to be precise, a book that I enjoy enough to finish even though I might spend a lot amount of time arguing with it.”

I enjoyed this review because the reviewer got into a dialogue with the book, and I think it’s interesting to have someone feel like he wants to keep reading even when from time to time he wants to hurl the book across the room; what I really like is the suggestion the book had him spending time thinking about the issues it raises. To be sure, it’s not an unqualified rave; it’s not even close (the reviewer has a headful of nits to pick), but perverse fellow that I am, I don’t mind mixed or even negative reviews if the review is thoughtfully done, and this one is. Naturally, I encourage you to seek it out.

Also noted in the April Locus: Elizabeth Bear’s Hammered at #3 on the paperback bestseller’s list. Rock on, Ms. Bear! No, Old Man’s War is not on the bestseller list. I’ll make it through the pain somehow.

On a completely unrelated front, I’ve decided that I’m going to go ahead and get myself a Mac. Because, you know, I want one, and since none of y’all picked up the hint to buy me one, I guess I’ll just have to get it myself. My thought was to buy one in time to start writing The Ghost Brigades, but the complication here is that Apple is very likely to announce upgrades to its OS and possibly new models within the next few days, and it makes no sense to buy the current models until the updates are announced. Stupid product cycles.

In case you’re curious, the Mac I have my eye on would be the 20″ iMac, which is in the sweet spot for me in terms of price and power (this is one of the models they’re likely to upgrade this month as well). As I mentioned previously, this doesn’t mean I’ll have “switched,” since I intend to keep my current PC up and running because the PC universe still has a number of advantages, and at some point (probably a year to 18 months from now), I’ll probably upgrade on the PC side as well. I’ll be proudly biprocessorial. I swing both ways!

That’s what’s going on my world.